Breastfeeding Education Materials Available to Download

Breastfeeding Coalition of Washington Equity Webinar Series

Breastfeeding equity webinars, in collaboration with the Washington State Department of Health- WIC Nutrition Program, are hosted 4 times a year. The goal of these webinars is to create community engagement around breastfeeding inequities and eliminating barriers to breastfeeding. These community discussions share tools and strategies on how to challenge social and organizational barriers in support of breastfeeding for low-income women and women of color.

Challenging Implicit Bias to Achieve Equity & Justice: The goal of this webinar is to provide working definitions of implicit and explicit bias, and to deepen understanding of how these impact interpersonal interactions and organizational policy and practice. The webinar takes a closer look at how implicit bias leads to racial and other inequities, and how communities can implement strategies and tools to lessen the impact of implicit bias. Original webinar was hosted on January 24, 2016. Special guest: Scott Winn, faculty member at the University of Washington, School of Social Work and Policy and Development Lead for the City of Seattle’s Race and Social Justice Initiative.

Challenging Bias in Hiring: This webinar discusses how bias can impact hiring practices and reflects on the steps you can take to create a diverse workplace. Original webinar was hosted on May 24, 2016. Special guests: Jacques Colon, Health Equity Coordinator of Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department; Linda Riggle, Talent Acquisition and Diversity & Inclusion Manager of WA Department of Health; and Becky Elias, Food Protection Program Manager of Environmental Health at Public Health—Seattle & King County.

Breastfeeding and Partnerships: Improving African American Breastfeeding Rates: This webinar features two community-based programs in Pierce County, the Black Infant Health Program and NACCHO’s Breastfeeding Peer Counseling Lactation Support Project, and how they are partnering to improve breastfeeding outcomes for African American mothers and babies. Original webinar was hosted on August 17, 2016. Special guests: Lea Johnson, BSN, RN, IBCLC, and Delores Baccus, RN, IBCLC.

Building a Breastfeeding Friendly King County: Our Collective Responsibility: This stakeholder’s breakfast was an in-person event focusing on health equity, African American families, and breastfeeding as a preventative tool. Community partners from various organizations in King County participated in discussions around cultural awareness and sensitivity when providing breastfeeding support for African American mothers and babies. There is no audio recording of the day’s events, but to learn more about the event take a look at our blog post, Building a Breastfeeding Friendly King County. The following are some of the resources shared at the breakfast:

Building Trust Dignity: The Voices From Our Mothers: This webinar features three Breastfeeding Peer Counselors from Pierce and King County. Leanne Brock, Starlene Howard and Leah Ford share their experiences working with mothers from all cultures and backgrounds, and some advice on how to offer culturally sensitive care to our WIC Mothers. They share lessons learned and best practices from their experiences working in WIC communities and with mothers. Original webinar was hosted on February 28, 2017. Special guests: Leanne Brock BS, CD, CLC, ALC, Leah Ford, Breastfeeding Peer Counselor with Sea Mar Community Health Centers, and Starlene Howard, Breastfeeding Peer Counselor with Public Health Seattle King County.

Racial and Ethnic Identity Development: Where am I in my thinking, where are you?: This webinar features Caprice Hollins, Psy.D. from Cultures Connecting. She discusses the different stages of racial and ethnic identity development and how to more effectively engage in race related conversations. Gain a deeper understanding of racial and ethnic identity communication. The original webinar was broadcasted on July 25, 2017. Special guest: Dr. Caprice Hollins, cofounder of Cultures Connecting, LLC and affiliate professor of Counseling at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology. She received her M.A. and Psy.D. degrees in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Multicultural and Community Psychology from California School of Professional Psychology―LA. She also opened and directed the Department of Equity & Race Relations for Seattle Public Schools.

Your Guide to Breastfeeding

The Office of Women’s Health created Your Guide to Breastfeeding to provide mothers a comprehensive guide to breastfeeding, and common questions and situations that may arise. Information in this guide ranges from why breastfeeding is important, to finding support, dealing with special situations (breastfeeding twins), returning to work, weaning your baby, and many other helpful topics.